MH370 Search: 2 New Ping Signals Detected

Australian officials say new "ping" signals have been detected in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

April 9, 2014by Briana Altergott

A new sign of hope in what's been an otherwise frustrating and fruitless search — Australian officials say new "ping" signals have been detected in the hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

"Yesterday, two more pings were detected off the coast of Australia. Officials say it brings them closer than ever to visually finding the location of the plane." (Via MSNBC)

According to CNN, officials believe these "pings" could be from the missing plane's black box recorders. Authorities have determined the signals are most likely not coming from a natural source and are consistent with electronic equipment.

"I believe we are searching in the right area but we need to visually identify aircraft wreckage before we can confirm with certainty that this is the final resting place of MH370." ​(Via CNN)

These new signals bring the total number of detected "pings" to four in the last few days by a U.S. Navy "Towed Pinger Locator," otherwise known as a TPL.

These "pings" are giving authorities hope that they'll be able to find and retrieve Flight 370's black boxes, which would help investigators determine what happened to the missing plane. (Via CBC)

But time is definitely not on their side at this point.​

The batteries inside the plane's black box recorders are guaranteed to work for around 30 days. But the search for MH370 was on its 33rd day Wednesday, and officials say the newly detected "pings" are weak. (Via National Transportation Safety Board)

Investigators are continuing their search for the flight recorders. They say they will do everything in their power to locate them using ships and planes before sending underwater vehicles to search the sea floor.